Growing Up
by PandaWolf180
Summary: They were best friends. They shared everything together. They grew up together, and grew apart, then grew close again, and now Tyler is finally ready to say the things he'd wanted to say since they were only six years old, but what if Elena is not ready to hear them? Will she be able to open her heart again after everything that had happened between them in the past year.


The Vampire Diaries - Growing Up

For as long as they could remember, they had always been each others best friend. If it wasn't Elena helping Tyler with school work, it was him teaching her how to do certain things. They'd spent tonnes of time together. When Elena's parents wanted to go on a holiday with just the two of them, they'd leave her with the Lockwoods, while Jenna looked after a baby Jeremy. They were friends before they'd even met Matt, Bonnie or Caroline. For the first few years it was just the two of them against the world. That never really changed, no matter how much their lives changed, the one thing to remain the same was always their friendship. Though maybe things did change a little, but not in a bad way...at least, Tyler didn't think so...

"Elena! Wait!...Hold up!" He called, following her down the hall to her college dorm room, "What do you want?" She asked coldly, not that he didn't deserve it after the stupid things that came tumbling out of his mouth the last time they'd spoken, which was at least a week ago. Since the end of their senior year and the beginning of summer, they hadn't been as good friends as they usually were. Though it was their senior year that caused the rift, she started hanging out with Matt after they'd got together and he buried himself in sports stuff, leaving them to it, that is until he heard that they weren't getting along, then he had to go and get involved, not that it did any good, she didn't believe what he had to say anyway. At first she accepted it as friendly concern, then when he really tried getting her to believe him, she brushed it off as jealousy, at the fact that she was happy with Matt while he had nothing to do since the football season ended. Then she learned the cold, hard truth for herself, which caused her to get even more mad at him because he was right. Since they were kids, she'd always hated the fact that he would say something, then it would happen or he'd predict something correctly. She hated it. And so spent half of their summer avoiding him after he was right about Matt. Then when she finally began talking to him again, he was annoyed that she hadn't believed him, that she'd even think he would lie to her of all people, and whenever they set anything up, any activity at all, he'd make excuses, which he soon regretted when she stopped trying completely, and stopped making the effort to invite him out or include him, over the years, their whole circle had fell apart but he never thought that they would, that is until he'd had enough of drifting apart and decided to at least try to patch things up, and for a while, that worked, they were friends, just like they used to be. Until he had a moment of truths with her a few days before, at the end of summer party where they were drinking and he'd accidentally told her something that, he'd pretty much always wanted to say, but never had. Now here they were, because of that drunk moment of truths, stood in the dorm room, with him trying to explain himself, but he didn't even know where to begin, quickly deciding that it would be best to start from the beginning, the moment he first realised what he wanted, "I owe you an explanation..." He began, "Yeah. You do. Tyler, you can't just say stuff like that, not after everything that went down this summer, and especially not when you're drunk." She said, then he butted in, "I know. Elena...I know it was unfair to you. But it's the truth. What I said, as drunk as I was, I meant it. But I guess I should explain, it isn't new, I've wanted to say it since...well, since we were kids from that moment out in my back yard."

*Flashback*

Out in the Lockwood's yard, it was the year 1998, they were only six years old, and Elena's parents were on one of their holidays, so here she was, at one of her and Tyler's infamous sleepovers. So far in the few hours since her parents had dropped her off, they had managed to watch the latest episode of Looney Tunes, played a game of Crash Bandicoot, now here they were, in back of the yard, close to the woods, burying another one of their 'Treasures'. Their hands were filthy by the time they'd finished digging, placed the item in the hole and put the dirt back. "How many more of these treasures are we going to bury?" Elena asked, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand and unknowingly smearing dirt across her face. "However many we find. And years from now we'll be back here digging it up." Tyler responded, jumping to his feet. "We should get back inside and wash up for dinner." He added, turning to face her then laughing. "What are you laughing at?" She asked confused, "You have dirt on your face." He giggled in that boy-ish way that always grated on Elena's nerves. "Let me get that for ya." He added, reaching out a hand and wiping away the dirt, "All gone." He stated, rubbing his grubby hands on his t-shirt. Then for no reason in particular, and also because curiosity was chomping his mind, stepped foward giving her a kiss on the lips. Instantly, she backed away. No boy had ever dared kiss her before and she liked it that way. She didn't want boy cooties. After a minute or two she gave him a slap across the face and ran away towards the house, leaving him stood there in confusion. No girl had ever slapped him before. And he always thought that girls liked to be kissed. He'd seen his mum and dad kiss before, and his mum had never slapped his dad before. His little mind could only wonder why had the opposite effect on Elena. Surely every girl liked to be kissed right? Right?...

Meanwhile, Elena approached the steps of the back porch, equally as confused. Kissing was wrong because boys had cooties. Great! Now she probably caught boy cooties. Frustrated and confused, she kicked a stone that was in her path and headed up the steps, into the house. It was almost dinner time and Carol would have come looking for them shortly anyway.  
Not far behind her, Tyler had just walked through the door himself, when sure enough, his mum called for them to get washed up for dinner.

At the table, the two kids were both silent, as was Carol. Richard was out on official business so it was just the three of them. Usually, without his dad around, the table would have been loud and rowdy. But not this time. This time the two of them were unusually quiet. "What's gotten into you two? Scheming again?" Carol asked suspiciously. "Nothing." Tyler responded, and picked up a handful of spaghetti bolognese, shoving it in his mouth, to avoid further question. "Nothing but boy cooties." Elena added, giving Tyler evils as she twirled another piece of spaghetti on her fork, putting it in her mouth. "Okay then...whatever game you two were playing, it's almost dark, so after dinner, you play inside, got it Tyler?" Carol instructed clearly. "Got it mother." He responded, avoiding the evils that Elena was still throwing him.

After dinner, since it was too dark to go out, they sat at the table and decided to do some colouring and drawing. "What are you drawing?" He asked, breaking the silence that had taken over since dinner time. Elena, did not respond. She'd heard him, that much was clear because she shot him a look when he spoke, however she did not speak. Then Tyler had another brilliant idea. Grabbing a crayon and a clean sheet of paper, he began scribbling something onto the page. Once he'd finished, he took the sheet and placed on top of Elena's as she was concentrating hard on whatever she was drawing.  
As he did the castle that was forming on her page was replaced a word scribbled on his. Staring blankley at the page, she blinked once or twice. On the page read the word, 'Sorry.', which was odd. Tyler never apologized for anything he did, wether it was a prank or some kind of joke, he never apologized for those times that he behaved like a total boy. Glancing from the page to him, back to the page, and back to him, never in their few years of friendship had he apologized. Infact, Elena was almost convinced that he didn't know how to. But there it was, the word sorry messily scribbled on a piece of paper. Doing the only thing she could think of, she flipped the sheet over and began scribbling something on the other side. Once she'd finished, she pushed the sheet across the table towards him, with the word 'Okay.' scribbled on it. Now he felt brave enough to test his luck again, and spoke, "Friends again?" He asked quietly. "Yes." She answered quickly. "Good. Because we can't let something like boy cooties come between us, right Elena?" He added, still testing his luck. "Right." She replied, giving him a playfull shove. "So what'cha drawing?" He asked, changing the subject, growing quickly bored with the nice talk. "It's a castle. See, there's Matt, he's a little slave boy for the three princesses, me, Bonnie and Caroline, then there's Jeremy, the baby prince who's always into mischief so has to be watched by the guards, see the guards, that's our dads. Then there's the two queens, our mums who are always bullying the guards and making them do stupid stuff, they dress really pretty and are always in charge, then there's the dragon slaying villager, who's always trying to show off in front of the princesses, which is clearly you. Then there's the draw bridge, with crocodiles swimming in the water surrounding so that no bad men can enter the castle." She explained, carefully pointing out every detail on the page. "Do I get a horse?" He asked curiously, "Why?" She responded confused. "Because dragon slayers always need horses. It's how they swoop in and save the day." Tyler explained. "I can't draw horses, so I left them out." She admitted, "Really?" He said surprised then swiped the paper from her. "Hey!" She protested, reaching to grab it back, only to have him hold it high in the air. She hated how he was taller than her. It always gave him the advantage. "It's okay. You can have it back in a minute." He said, quickly sketching out something onto the page, then handing it back to her. Looking at the page, where there had been nothing, he'd drawn a horse. "See. Isn't that better?" He insisted. "Yeah...I guess." She concluded, getting used to the added horse. He was about to say something else when Carol finally called them. "Okay you two...time for bed." She called out, entering the r00m. "Awh mum do we have to?" Tyler asked, sulkily. "Yes. You can play some more tomorrow." She reasoned. "No fair!" He complained, but then gave up the fight and obeyed instructions.

The following morning, Elena was woken by Tyler's foot almost up her nose. Carefully, she moved it away, but it was no use, he just moved it back. So she moved it again, this time shuffling a little away from him. Which just made things worse because when he moved it back this time, his toes ended up in her mouth. Shuffling back again, she didn't notice when she reached the end of the bed and ended up falling to the floor. Oh sure, now he woke up! She thought, stroppily. "Elena? What are you doing down there?" He asked innocently. "You don't wanna know." She replied, but ended up telling him when he kept pushing for answers, not that he did anything other than laugh when she did tell him. That was the last time that they ever shared the bed at one of their sleepovers, from then on, both at the Gilbert house and the Lockwood house, their parents decided to replace the beds with bunk beds, after Elena complaining of a cheesey taste in her mouth for weeks after that.

*Present day*

"That's when something changed for the first time. Okay, I don't know but after that it always felt different." He said, finishing his telling of the memory. "I asked for an explanation...no, you said you would give me an explanation but so far all's you've done is give me a memory that will always be treasured but isn't relevant." She responded, "No Elena, you don't understand. It is important...everything I'm telling you is important. You want the truth, well, this is the only way I can say it without making it sound like I've just decided to mess with your feelings, without it sounding like pity or implying something simply because you and Matt broke up. This is the only way I can explain it to make you understand that what I said wasn't shallow words, that it goes beyond this past summer." He corrected, "Please just listen...this is the only way I can make you understand." He half pleaded. After a moment of silence, she agreed, taking a seat on the bed besides all the boxes. "Anyways so that was the first time. I thought the castle thing and the whole cheese in mouth was funny...and cute. But then everything went on as normal. All the time we spent together, with our circle of friends or just the two of us, and it was great that way. Being able to carry on as normal, like it never happened. Then there was that night that the five of us went camping when we were nine. Caroline roped us in to playing kiss or dare, which was her twisted version of truth or dare. And it didn't matter what anyone picked because the dares always turned out to be kissing dares, you closed your eyes every time you or Jeremy answered the question because you were hoping that it wouldn't land on your brother..."

*Flashback*

"Okay, Jeremy, it's your turn. Kiss or dare?" Caroline asked, the seven year old. "Dare." Jeremy chose carefully, trying to avoid Caroline telling him to kiss Matt or Tyler, being the youngest there, they all liked to tease him. "I dare you to kiss Bonnie." Caroline said flatly. "Well...I guess that's not the worst you could have done." He commented, before leaning over the bonfire and giving Bonnie a quick peck on the lips. "Okay Bonnie, it's your turn." Caroline ruled out, "Kiss or dare?" She asked, "It's the same either way, so kiss." Bonnie replied, getting bored. "Kiss...Elena." Caroline ordered, "What!" Bonnie exclaimed, shocked. "Kiss Elena." Caroline repeated. "Fine." Bonnie gave in, turning to Elena, who was sandwitched in between her and Tyler, and giving her the quickest kiss possible. "Your turn Elena." Caroline barked, "Dare." Elena selected, "I dare you to kiss Matt." Caroline said, even though she hated Elena and Matt getting any closer than they were. She always had a thing for Matt, and would be damned if she was gonna let yet another boy fall for Elena. "Okay...Matt, come here." She instructed as he leaned over the fire, before she kissed him. "OW!" She shrieked, pulling away instantly. "You bit me!" She almost yelled, licking the tiny bead of blood from her lip. "Sorry..it was something I saw on animal planet, I thought that.." He explained then gave up when she did nothing but glare at him. "Anyways Matt, it's your turn. Kiss or dare?" Caroline asked, moving the game along. "Kiss." He said shyly. "Kiss Tyler." She instructed, much to his horror. "Gross!" Matt and Tyler said in sync. Despite the repulsive thoughts, neither wanted to face a bitchy Caroline, "Don't bite me!" Tyler warned. Matt quickly kissed Tyler before pulling away again. "I think he needs a breath mint." Tyler teased, before Caroline jumped in, "Who cares? Anyway, Tyler it's your turn. Kiss or dare?" She asked impatiently. "Dare." He replied, growing bored of the game. "I dare you to kiss...Elena." She instructed, hoping that seeing them kiss would put Matt off of his growing interest in Elena. "For thirty seconds." She added at last minute just as they were about to kiss. "Oh and make it look convincing." She added again, noticing Matt's forever growing frown. "What? Caroline! That's not fair, you can't just change the rules." Elena protested and Matt agreed. "Come on...at least it's not the biter over there." Tyler said, persuasively. "Alright. Since you put it like that..." She agreed, as he leaned in to kiss her. "29...28...27..." Caroline began counting down, "26...25...24...23...22...21.." She continued until she reached zero, then gave a fake cough to let them know. "Okay. That's thirty seconds." Caroline called out, though got no response. "She said that's thirty seconds!" Matt boomed, stepping over and pushing Elena away, causing her to lose balance and fall next to the bonfire. "Oh...oops! Elena, I'm sorry." He pouted, taking his seat back. She didn't respond. Instead just remained on the ground, in complete surprise. "What's wrong with you Matt? You could've hurt her." Caroline asked, a fake level of concern in her voice. "I'm sorry." The blonde nine year old sulked. "You need to chill. We kinda lost track, that's all." Tyler explained, though secretly gloating inside. "Friends don't hurt friends Matt." Elena finally said, picking herself up off the ground. "You hurt me. You're not my friend." She said then added, "I'm done with these camp games." Conclusively before sitting back on the old tree branch, but facing out of the circle. "Oh come Elena...it's no fun without all of us." Bonnie tried reasoning. "Nope!" Elena said stubbornly. "Well, this game sucks." Caroline concluded. Jeremy, too young to understand what was going on, just sat roasting yet another marshmellow, which was his fifteenth.

To Be Continued...


End file.
